Global Health Institute, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
School of Medicine, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China.
Nature. 2024 Mar;627(8005):873-879. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07112-w. Epub 2024 Feb 28.
Cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) senses aberrant DNA during infection, cancer and inflammatory disease, and initiates potent innate immune responses through the synthesis of 2'3'-cyclic GMP-AMP (cGAMP). The indiscriminate activity of cGAS towards DNA demands tight regulatory mechanisms that are necessary to maintain cell and tissue homeostasis under normal conditions. Inside the cell nucleus, anchoring to nucleosomes and competition with chromatin architectural proteins jointly prohibit cGAS activation by genomic DNA. However, the fate of nuclear cGAS and its role in cell physiology remains unclear. Here we show that the ubiquitin proteasomal system (UPS) degrades nuclear cGAS in cycling cells. We identify SPSB3 as the cGAS-targeting substrate receptor that associates with the cullin-RING ubiquitin ligase 5 (CRL5) complex to ligate ubiquitin onto nuclear cGAS. A cryo-electron microscopy structure of nucleosome-bound cGAS in a complex with SPSB3 reveals a highly conserved Asn-Asn (NN) minimal degron motif at the C terminus of cGAS that directs SPSB3 recruitment, ubiquitylation and cGAS protein stability. Interference with SPSB3-regulated nuclear cGAS degradation primes cells for type I interferon signalling, conferring heightened protection against infection by DNA viruses. Our research defines protein degradation as a determinant of cGAS regulation in the nucleus and provides structural insights into an element of cGAS that is amenable to therapeutic exploitation.
环鸟苷酸-腺苷酸合酶 (cGAS) 在感染、癌症和炎症性疾病期间感知异常 DNA,并通过合成 2'3'-环鸟苷酸-腺苷酸 (cGAMP) 引发有效的先天免疫反应。cGAS 对 DNA 的无差别活性需要严格的调节机制,这对于维持正常条件下的细胞和组织稳态是必要的。在细胞核内,与核小体的锚定以及与染色质结构蛋白的竞争共同阻止基因组 DNA 激活 cGAS。然而,核 cGAS 的命运及其在细胞生理学中的作用仍然不清楚。在这里,我们表明泛素蛋白酶体系统 (UPS) 在有丝分裂细胞中降解核 cGAS。我们确定 SPSB3 是 cGAS 的靶向底物受体,它与 cullin-RING 泛素连接酶 5 (CRL5) 复合物结合,将泛素连接到核 cGAS 上。核小体结合的 cGAS 与 SPSB3 形成复合物的冷冻电子显微镜结构揭示了 cGAS 羧基末端的一个高度保守的 Asn-Asn (NN) 最小降解基序,该基序指导 SPSB3 的募集、泛素化和 cGAS 蛋白稳定性。干扰 SPSB3 调节的核 cGAS 降解使细胞对 I 型干扰素信号通路敏感,赋予对 DNA 病毒感染的更高保护。我们的研究将蛋白降解定义为核内 cGAS 调节的决定因素,并提供了对 cGAS 可治疗利用的一个元素的结构见解。